Do Go On - 220 - The Eruption of Mount St. Helens

Episode Date: January 8, 2020

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted for the first time in over one hundred years, causing immense destruction. The blast generated about 500 times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and obliterated the mountain. This episode follows the build up to America's most powerful natural disaster, and the people caught up within it. Matt is performing his new show MONKEY HOUSE is on in HOBART on January 9th and 10th, BRISBANE March 10-15 and MELBOURNE March 26-April 19, find more details/get tickets here: https://mattstewartcomedy.com/gigs (use the code 'podcast' for a special listener discount)Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodSubmit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-TopicTwitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:The Smithsonian Channel: Make It Out Alive: Mount St. Helenshttps://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156553507463357https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Saint-Helenshttps://apnews.com/8262f08726b0fdc333fe10e02b596814https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/01/the-photographers-who-braved-mount-st.htmlhttps://www.livescience.com/27553-mount-st-helens-eruption.htmlhttps://huckberry.com/journal/posts/robert-landsburg-s-brave-final-shotshttps://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/cvo/david_johnston.html

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenjai Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnocky and I'm sitting here in A House in London with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart. Hello. Hello. Hello. We're in London, baby. I don't know how many times over the past three years I've had to tell you this. We're not in London, baby. No, this time we are in London.

I've been saying it every week for four years, and we're finally in London Baby. Yes, we are in London Baby. And it's a suburb just outside London, London Baby. And it's lovely. It's lovely here. For context, we are halfway through the tour when we're recording this. We did our show in Bristol last night. Yes.

We've driven up to London today. Yes. I did the driving. And you smash the driving. Yeah, the car is ruined. Yeah, but unless the rental company is watching, which case it's absolutely fine. What do you mean?

Tip top Nick. Could not be any better. Don't even look at it. If anything, I've improved it. Yeah. I got under the hood, did some modifications, I fixed things. And you parked it so well,

and we appreciate that because it meant that I didn't have to park it. Yeah. We would hate for that to have to happen. But yeah, well, halfway through the tour, it's going really well The shows have been really fun We've met lots of nice people And we're very tired

Name one One nice person Judy Really I was thinking of Trent Trent was awesome Yeah yeah yeah Trent was really nice

You name one then Scott was a lovely man No Sorry Scott Sorry Scott Sorry Scott I thought you were nice Scott knows what he did

Yeah Scott he doesn't know So don't tell Scotty Well you've got a little edit point there Explain to new listeners what this show's about Dave Well if you've just stumbled across this show We've been told to listen to it without any context What we usually do here is take it in terms

To report on a topic suggested by a listener And it is my turn to report on a topic That Matt and Jess don't know what it's going to be about And we love it when you report So last night at our Bristol show I did the report And at one point Matt and I had a little mini fight on stage and a guy came up to me afterwards and he said yeah great report it was really

fun but it's better when the sass twins work together i was like all right man i mean we we just made a joke i told you i said that you talked over me when i talked over you it was a it was a fun joke that's a good bit it's a good bit probably we were working together yeah to create laughter but anyway my point was that when dave does report bat and i get to just sit back relax and sass and talk over me yeah okay now we always get on to topic

I'll stop you right there good on you keep keep it up thank you so much thank you so much we always get on to topic with the asking of a question yes beautifully put you're in the land of Shakespeare

and you're starting to talk like him I imagine I don't think there are any real recordings of him do I not bleed oh that's one of his it's one of his very best now my question to you Me?

Yes. And me? Thank you. Now, I've been accused of doing a lot of reports and disasters lately. And I say in for a penny, in for a pound. Here's another one. My question is, which volcano erupted on May 18, 1980? 1980?

Do you know this one? Was it in a film? I know there were two films that came out about the same time. Were they based on real events? You think of Dante's Peak? Dante's Peak and another one was called... A volcano? know.

Forget eruption or something. It doesn't matter. Where was it, Dave? Hawaii? No, it is in America though. Hmm. In America. Mainland America.

Wow, La La Land? Because that's where Dante's Peak was filmed. I don't know of any that recent. Hmm. I don't think I'm going to know this. No, I'm not going to know either. I'll say the first, there's two words here. It's Mount St.

Helen. Helens. Yes, Mount St. Helen. Oh. You did know it. No, I don't know it. No.

I've heard those words together. But you're not aware that that is a volcano. No idea. I'm pretty sure that's a cafe near my house. Wow, that is a weird thing to name your cafe after. I think it might just be St. Helen. Oh, okay. This is Mounts and Helens.

I've added the Mount. One of the first, I searched. Oh, sorry. I thought you meant the difference was that they just took the S off and you're like, oh, that's fine. Mounts and Helen, no relation. This is purely coincidence. I'd searched Dante's Peak and, and it came up with it auto-filtered.

and other volcano movie. And the other volcano movie is called Volcano. I mean, they're jolted out of the box office. That's super easy for you to forget. Yeah. It's hiding in plain sight.

Yeah. Now this topic was selected by the Patreon supporter, so we thank them for voting. Thank you. It was a runaway, runaway vote this one. Right. Smash the other two topics,

which I also thought were very good, potential stuff, but this was the only disaster. So in a way, if you think I'm doing too many disasters, blame the Patreon supporters. Because sometimes recently, it's been really, really, it's been a tight race with the Patreon votes.

Super close, yeah. So it's kind of nice to have a clear winner. Yeah, they definitely wanted this one. And these are the people that suggested the topic. And if you want to suggest a topic, there's a little link in the description of this episode. You can go to our website. Do go on pod.com. And I picked it out of the hat suggested by four beautiful people.

And they are Roy Phillips from Borum Wood in Hertfordshire. Probably not that far from here. None of that sounded real. Antonio Daly from Loughton in Essex That's also not real That is also not very far from in Essex Lufton Lafton

Further away Travis Alexander from Gulfport Mississippi Ah Travis Alexander One Mississippi 2 Mississippi 3 Mississippi There's a lot of Mississippies Which one is he from

Number four He nearly got there And finally from Victoria British Columbia and Canada Darcy Williamson Ah Dee Willie Willie D We'd have you on board

So thanks to those people. So you guys don't know too much about this topic then I imagine. I don't know anything. No. Unless it was based, one of those movies was based on it because I definitely saw Dante's Peak. The only thing I remember from Dante's Peak is where the grandma sacrifices herself jumps into like a boiling water because their boat's stuck and she has to get them to the shoreline.

She jumps in and starts weights towards the end and then she dies from horrific burns. What a fucking legend. What a legend. What a spoiler. Thanks. Oh, I'm sorry that I ruined Dante's Peak. Yeah, you did. You ruined Dante's Peak for me.

Well, how do you know it's from 1997? Is that true? Yes. Well, there you go. I remember two things about it. The year it came out and the scene where the grandma sacrifices herself to save the others. Fuck you. Sorry to spoil that.

Fuck you. You've ruined my favorite film that I've not seen. But you assume it would be. She was saving it up. I was saving it for a 21st. My 21st birthday. Your 21st is going to be a screening of Dante's people. Yes, and now it's ruined.

We should all watch it tonight. What do you reckon? Yeah, that would be good. Or you've still got volcano. Plan B. Yeah, all right, Dave. Why don't you fucking spoil that one for me? A volcano kills people.

Oh, my God, Dave. I was being sarcastic, you monster. The twist is that the volcano was inside us all along. The real disaster here was Dave and his filthy mouth spewing hot lava, literally. Sorry. Literally. Literally. Oh my God. We are filming this as well.

So if people go to the YouTube channel, I'll be able to see Dave, literally spewing hot lava. Yeah, wow. I forget Evan's not here to work. Edit that in in post. Okay, so Mounts and Hellens is a volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State. It can be found 50 miles or 80 kilometers northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 96 miles or 154K south of Seattle, Washington.

I mean, I do appreciate that for reference, but it still doesn't help me play. So, top left. Top left corner. Great. And trailblazers are from Portland, the basketball teams. Is that what they're named after? Will they, like, lava blazes a trail in a way? No, I think there'd be much older than this 19-80 eruption.

Hmm, interesting. There you go. History's fascinating. Isn't it? To me, time isn't linear. No. You know, it's all occurring at once, and we're all, like, thoughts of our own imagination or something shit. That's what it is. That's what it means to me.

But I, you know, I think pretty deeply. You're a deep, deep, man. I'm wearing a t-shirt with a leaf on it, and I think that rings true right now. And that t-shirt is almost covering you. Yeah, I've eaten and drunk quite a bit on this trip. Oh, that's a brutal, brutally public way of letting me know. I've put on a couple of kegs. I could not see from my angle, so I was just like, what are you talking about it?

I mean to say that I could see from every angle. Oh, wow, okay. I can say right up my chuff, which is my belly button. Everyone's chuff is different. Yeah. Mine's my left ear. Wow. Wow.

It's beautiful chuff. Every chuff is beautiful. Yeah. It's a special, special way. Every chuff is sacred. Mount St. Helens gets this English name from the British diplomat Lord St. Helens, a friend of explorer, George Vancouver, who the city of Vancouver is named up. That makes sense.

I didn't know that. George Vancouver. George Vancouver. It sounds made up when I love that. It does seem fake. I know. George Vancouver. It's funny. I'm like,

I'm like, St. Helens, obviously they've named it after some saint called Helens. But it was after some, some Lord. Some saint called Helens. Yes. That's what you said.

Yeah, multiple, I thought they went, we could name it after one, St. Helen. But why not? How do you choose a favorite St. Helen, you know? Yeah.

So many good ones. Cut narrow it down. Yeah. My favorite one is the one that ate berries. Yes. I love her Not just because of berries

But also just Her philosophies, you know She had a can-do attitude One of her miracles Was She was She was able to blend berries Into a smoothie

Before blenders had been invented Yeah She did it with her mind She was a witch They burned her It's a fine line Between the same witch Depending on who's looking at you

Because yeah You go no God made me do this And they go Mm-hmm Okay. Did he or did the devil? Oh, but we don't like this one.

We want an excuse to throw off the cliff. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's dark territory. Is it? Undersege 2, dark territory? Is that a, is that it? Yeah, that's the sequel to Undersege. Oh, Under siege 2. Under siege 1, fantastic.

Under siege 2, also fantastic. Really? Yeah, didn't. They're on a bus? They're on a train. And a train. So good. Well, I can't wait to hear about this story.

Mounts and Hellens is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Specific Ring of Fire, too. Sorry, I mispronounce that. That includes over 160 active volcanoes. And Mounts and Hellens has a long recorded history of eruption, but also long periods of dormancy. For example, when it erupted in 1480, that was the first time it had gone off in 700 years. That is unlucky for people who were there that day. You're there that day.

That's a one in 700 year occurrence. Do volcanoes give you much notice that they're going to erupt? As we're about to find out. Oh. Yes. Oh. So basically it would erupt, calm down for a few decades, sometimes centuries, and then erupt again before repeating the cycle.

Right. Sometimes, but it would be dormant for hundreds of years at a time. Yeah. By 1980, the year we're talking about, it had been dormant for 123 years. Oh. The park surrounding the mountain was welcoming 500,000 people a year at the time, setting the stage for disaster. Oh, no.

So it's been dormant for 123 years But then on March 15th, 1980 The giant beast began to show signs That it was starting to stir Like when you wake up in your tummy's grumbling And you're about to go off for the first time In 123 years Yeah, like that

You've built up quite a lot by that point Yeah Yes, go off, Queen Is that a saying? Yes, and you nailed it Thank you. Queen Our seismographs,

which are instruments used to detect and record earthquakes and volcanic activity were only installed in 1972, but within eight years they really paid for themselves. Because these seismographs measured a series of minor earthquakes that indicated something was happening. These earthquakes began to build over the following days, with over 100 earthquakes being measured before peaking on March 25th. Five, I was going to say five, and then I went with fifth, with an earthquake that measured 5.1 on the Richter scale, which is quite large.

Okay. Aerial observations from planes and helicopters revealed new fractures in the surrounding glaciers and numerous rock slides occurred. Oh. So a lot of activities kicking off here. Decent earthquake. A lot of monitoring going on.

But early on, there was debate in the scientific community as to whether these minor earthquakes actually indicated in an impending eruption or it was just routine rumblings. Yes. So people are like, nah, mate, it's going to be fine. It's all right. From time to time you get a few rumblings,

but it's not going to worry. But other people are like, we've got to evacuate people. She's going to blow! She's going to blow, yeah. They're two very different views. Yeah, two very, very different views. I reckon if people were arguing over that, you'd go, well, let's go with the Conservative.

You play it safe, right? You get them out, get people out. One of the people who believed that the mountain might blow was volcanologist David A. Johnston. Oh, played by Pierce Brosnan. Yes. Probably. And his mother sacrifices herself.

About 47 minutes into the film. Sorry about that, Jess. You're not sorry at all. You keep bringing it up. It's like when you say you're sorry, it sounds pretty sarcastic. It does mean I'll never do it again. But I will do it again.

But he also hasn't spoiled the first 46 minutes. Yeah, you have 46 minutes of enjoyment. Yeah, 46 minutes of really getting to love that grandma character. Knowing she's going to die the whole time. Piece of shit. Sorry about that. Well, it was filmed in 997. She's almost definitely dead now.

And we can take some solace in that. Do you say? She's always ever really dead now. Does they make it better or worse? I don't know. David A. Johnson, he's one of the characters that I'll talk about a lot in this piece. He was born in Chicago in 1949. Oh, the windy city.

And in 1971, he graduated from the University of Illinois with highest honors and distinction in geology. His obsession with volcanology took him across the US, and he later completed a PhD at the University of Washington. His work on volcanic gases brought him to the US Geological Survey in 1978, where he was assigned to expand the program for monitoring volcanic emissions in Alaska and the Cascade Range. So he's building up his CV here. Part of the aim of the program was to work out changes in gas chemistry, and whether that provides clues of impending corruptions or not. And when this started happening at Mounts and Hallens,

David O. Johnston was one of the first geologists on the scene. He was part of a team of scientists sent to investigate the potential volcanic activity. And he's turned up, he's one of the people that says, yes, I reckon this is going to blow. And blow hard. He didn't think it was going to be a very good time. No, this is going to blow.

This party blows. Let's get out of here. David, this isn't a party. This blows. David is described with the United States Geological Survey website as, quote, Dave was unaffectedly genuine with an infectious curiosity and enthusiasm. but perhaps his most essential quality was the ability to dissipate cynicism.

He looked for, saw and thereby encouraged the best in all of us. Was. Yeah, I had was as well. He dies tonight. Well, this happened 39 years ago, so he's almost certainly dead. Tonight. Okay, but I reckon he dies in the eruption. Also, side question was Van Halen's song eruption after?

named after this. Yes, but that's another spoiler. Okay. For my report. It was also written slightly before, so it was kind of a premonition. Yes, it was being predicted a lot of things. Wow, Eddie. What a guy.

You know what I mean? Who's that? He actually had... All right, that person from pop culture who didn't know them. Also, their song jump... Their song jump was telling people what to do when the volcano went off. Oh, my God. If you put...

Panama was where they should escape to. Getting hot for tea. is something you could do in your new life. If you survive, hook up with a teacher. Treat yourself to hook up with a teacher. Wow. So Dave, despite being only 30 years old,

he was considered to be one of the most experienced volcanologist around. Volcanologist. It's nice, isn't it? Yeah. Sounds like a nerdy thing. Well, you're welcome. Shame, shame, shame.

He had actual hands-on experience. with an eruption from his time in Alaska where he monitored a volcano of a similar type to Mount Sinhalant. So he's got experience. Despite this, not everyone's listening to him. On March 27, 12 days after the first activity, red, hot

magma from within the volcano, began to rise inside the mountain and came into contact with icy water at the top of the mountain. And when extreme heat is added to extremely cold water, you get steam! Is that...

That's bad. this case. Well, it's got to go somewhere. Can you tell me quickly the difference between lava and magma? One's hard and one soft. Oh. Is that right? Hot magma.

I'm guessing that's liquid and then lava's like sludgyer or something. I think maybe it's different layers. I'm not a volcanologist. Okay. Despite being named Dave, the same name as our hero volcanologist. Our favorite guy. So you don't know the difference? I technically don't.

You technically don't. No. You just don't. It's okay. It's all right to not know. I only technically though. Just say I'm not sure. You got me on technicality, all right?

The technicality is not knowing. Okay, so magma has hit ice cold water and that has made steam. Steam. And this caused the peak of mountains and hellons to suddenly burst open. Oh no. And 6,000 feet of steam blasted into the air and a 250 foot wide crater, 75 meters, formed on the summit. 6,000 feet high. Yeah, it just went, pooh.

Wow. The mountain was relieving some tension. Okay, I've been there. We're going to blow off some steam sometimes, and I believe that's where that phrase comes from. Oh. 1980. Yeah, that volcano had a big night out.

Yeah. Do you want to hear, according to earth observatory.org. Yeah, the difference between magma and lava is. Yes, please. Magma is composed of molten rock and is stored in the earth's crust. Lava is magma that reaches the surface of our planet through a volcano vent. There you go, different layers. Cool.

You basically were right. Thank you. And yeah, so lava is... Once it's out. Yeah, when it's out, into the air. But it is still kind of magma. Yeah. But magma isn't lava.

Yeah. You know, it's like tortoises and turtles sort of. Yeah, it's totally like that. If that helps you understand. It's sort of like how butterflies are caterpillars, but caterpillars aren't butterflies. That helped me understand. That helped me. Do you what I mean?

Thank you, Jess. I feel like mine actually made more sense. I think it did too. Okay. But good try, Matt. Good try. So, steams blasted through. Now there's a 250 foot wide crater on top.

And people are thinking, oh, that's not good. Shit's going down. Smaller eruptions continued at a rate of about one per hour throughout March, then decreased to about one per day in April until they stopped on April 22nd. Oh, they're in the clear. Great. Oh, great. Well, we can wrap up.

This mountain's a bit of a tease. Oh, safe. Oh, I'm going to wrap. No, I'm not. Everyone's like, oh, maybe we're safe. Oh, here I go. Just kidding. But just in case, Governor Dixie Lee Ray.

Dixie Lee Ray sounds like the character in Parks and Recreation, who is a porn star who turns to politics. Dixie Lee Ray. Okay. Is the character named Dixie Lee Ray? the show? No. It's something great, though.

Kind of like tortoises and totals. Turtuses and totals? Yeah, it's a bit like that. Dixie Lee Ray issued an executive order on April 30, creating a 10-mile red zone. Uh-oh. Around the volcano. Anyone caught breaching this order without a pass

faced a $500 fine, quite a lot of money back then, or six months in jail, quite a lot of time back then. Wow. Did, yeah. Don't go in, basically. Yeah, but 2,000 people lived around the volcano and local residents were evacuated and roadblocks were set up to stop people

from getting too close to a volcano. That's fair. Lots of people owned cabins within the exclusion zone and many were stopped from visiting to their annoyance. Oh, no. I bet some of them kicked up a bit of a stink. That is my cabin in there, you see? I own it.

it's mine and I can go whenever I want to Well possibly kick up the biggest thing of all was Harry Truman Not to be confused with Harry S Truman The 30th third president of the United States I definitely thought that's who it was Because he'd be dead then right Yeah Is Harry S around?

He kept asking questions Sorry Dave Stop asking dumb questions Sorry it doesn't I just think Dave knows everything What's the 1930s is a guess Oh I love this That Dave even has a clue you keep going I'll tell you

well our Harry Truman the Harry Truman from this story was 83 years old and he was a World War I veteran he had lived on the mountain for over 50 years and was a bit of a local legend everyone knew Harry Truman around this part he had survived a torpedo attack in World War I

some of his colleagues weren't as lucky and after the war he lived in a lodge overlooking the lake living a life of quiet seclusion sounds beautiful sounds great it's beautiful for 50 years he's gotten away with Why wouldn't you want to just continue living that way and therefore just clear out while there's a threat?

Yeah. You know? Well, his cabin was only three miles from the suburb and right in the middle of the red zone. He was told he had to leave, but he refused. He gave interviews and invited a journalist up to his cabin when people heard about this guy that didn't want to leave, and he became a bit of a media star. Oh, no, Harry.

He said the mountain was part of him and he was part of the mountain, and without it, he wasn't able to survive. Oh, my God. So we stayed on. He fucked him out. Oh, my God, he fucked it. No, the mountain fucked him. Oh, the T's.

That tease. Yeah, okay, so, but like, so what? You're like, if this erupts, I go with it? Well, no, he told the past he doubted the volcano would really erupt. He's like, I've been in 50 years. It hasn't gone off from that time. It's not going to happen. That's so funny.

Even though there were times where it's dormant for 700 years on record. I've been here for 50 years. years. Obviously, it went off ages ago. It sounds a bit like the climate change people. Anyway, why to bring that up? I just want to quickly, before we check in with our president, his plan was to get in his yacht on the lake and just sail away from the lava. He thought, I can quickly get on my boat. Lava will stop at the water's edge and I'll be able to get away. What do you mean lava will stop at the water's edge? Lava, it follows rules. Watery rules. Jess, it's afraid of water.

It's afraid of water. Oh, I didn't know love was afraid of water. So if lava's coming, just get in the bath. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, much like that, grandma from Dante's Peak. Shut up. Oh, no.

Stop re-ruining that film for me. Harry S. Truman died in 1972. And when was he president? It was president in the 30. Wait, what did you guess? No, that was my guess. Yeah, Dave guess 30s. No, 45 to 53.

God damn it, Dave. Get something right for once a day. your life, you fucking loser. I'm embarrassed. So he was a post World War II president then I guess. There you go. So that's our Harry Truman

we've checked in with. We'll check in with Harry a little bit later. Oh, Harry. Over the weeks, the volcano became headline news around the country and people flocked to see what the fuss was all about. Coming as close as they were legally able to to watch and take photos of a

real-life volcano. I mean, at this stage they're watching a mountain. A rumbling mountain. Yeah, but there's Not too much. You can't really say you're right. Are this concerns some volcanologists who didn't think people were treating the volcano with the seriousness that it deserved? It wasn't a tourist attraction.

It was something that could potentially kill many, many people very, very quickly. Despite that, people are flocking there, taking photos. People are so dumb. People are so, so dumb. That's what they're going to do. Climate change and the water look, we're going to start being swallowed by the oceans, and people are going to be on the shores. photos.

Look, the water. It's right at my house. Whenever like a hurricane hits America, there's constantly people there trying to take photos. Yeah, like the film Twister, where there was a granny. Oh, no. She got out of her boat, which was in the tornado, and she tried to drag it out of the tornado, but she got eaten by the tornado. And then you got hit by a cow.

Remember that scene? And then Helen Hunt punched her in the face. The cow or her? Both. Bad cow. She was on a rampage. Helen Hunt, she, who else is in it? It doesn't matter.

Poor man's Pil Pullman. Bill Pullman, who I think is a fine actor in his own right, whoever he was. Was it not Bill Pullman? It wasn't Bill Pullman. Matt keeps bringing up these questions. I'm so sorry, I'm in a real bad streak of saying dumb things. I don't know. It's lasted my whole life so far.

It probably doesn't even need to be mentioned because I think that anyone listening or watching has figured it out by now. we're quite tired. So tired. We're losing our minds a little bit. In a good way. Yeah, in a great way. We're having a great time. But we're pooped.

But we have a day off tomorrow. So don't worry about us. There you go. A few people just breathe the sigh of relief. Who else is in? Twister. Is Philip Seymour Hoffman in now? Oh, maybe.

When he's young. I search a tornado. I've learned the wrong lesson from Volcano. the film and I searched tornado film. But we know this one's called Twister. It was that in 19996? What a golden age for disaster films in the late, mid-Dlate 90s. Can you just, can you not tell us who it is and give us a clue?

Because I figure out. I was right. It was the person that sometimes people call the poor man's bill, Pullman, or vice versa. I forget, but there are two people who get linked together and they're both named Bill. One of them, Pullman. Paxton. Yes.

Is Philip C. more in there? Jamie Gertz, Carrie Illes are in it and that's all they list. No. Kery Yule.

Unless he was playing the Twister itself. He was. He's a method actor. Funny hell, what a legend. Yeah. It was great. Anyway, so people are flocking to it to look at a bad.

Yeah, people are trying to see what all the fuss is about because it is big, big news, but it's dragged out for several weeks now. Then on May 7, eruptions started back up again and at the rate of eruptions gradually increased over the next 10 days.

So it was building up to something again. Our resident volcanologist David Johnston discovered a bulge. Oh. Or... In his pants. He was hot for volcano action. Literally. This bulge is also known as a Cryptodome.

Cryptodome. I like that. I like that a lot. On the mountains north flank indicating an accumulation of viscous magma at a shallow depth. So it's all heading to the surface, sort of pooling and bulging out. Oh, dear. And the bulge is getting bigger. the north side of the volcano

bulged out about 450 feet or 140 metres nearly horizontally. So it was like a big growth on the side of the mountain. Oh my God, gross. Indicating that magma was rising towards the summit of the volcano and pressure was building within. Dave Johnston interpreted this as suggesting that mounts and hellens could produce

what is called a lateral blast. I reckon that volcano was like, whoa, don't touch me for a minute. Let's just have a little breather. It's gone to quick. Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, okay, okay, okay, just give us a second. Hey, let's just chat for a bit. Don't, no, no, no, don't touch me there.

That's something I've seen on TV or something. So he's predicting a lateral... I just gave you nothing. Dave just moves on. Yes, please continue, Dave. Because he didn't say anything either. Yeah, I was laughing. All right.

That was a little too real for Dave. No, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, okay, okay. I'm trying to, lateral blast. This is what he's predicting. Basically, meaning that rather than erupting straight up, like you would imagine a volcano usually classically would do. Or a bum.

Yes. Do bums go straight up or straight down? It depends on where you're pointing it. Yeah. If you've made it to the toilet in time, it should be going down. But if you're sun baking, you know, you've had a few margaritas, you fall in asleep. And you're like, I reckon I can risk this. That lunchtime burrito is starting to make you rumble.

And you do what you think is a little fart. It's not. Oh, it's not. It's a big eruption. Vertical. Matt hates this. Sorry, buddy. You've engaged in it too.

Yeah, I did. You never do. Sorry. I got excited. So usually a volcano would go straight up and then straight back down. Terrifying. Back into the same hole? That's convenient.

Yeah, yeah. It sucks it off. cleaning. It's like a water feature. That's the sound of a volcano. Yeah, that's what I do with my boat as well. Suck it back in. That's so awful.

Seal it all up. Don't think about that too much. Rather than going straight up, a lateral blast means it might explode sideways, meaning the blast would be much bigger in one direction. You know what I mean? So rather than going straight up and down, it explodes sideways and then one side just gets absolutely covered in,

And, you know, larva, ash, everything is in one direction. That's what he's worried about. One of the only other people to back up Johnson's theory was a professor called Jack Hyde. Hyde was also of the opinion that because the mountain lacked vents to release pressure, he thought the mountain would just keep building a pressure until it erupted. David thought of it as a time bomb ready to go off. Oh dear. He gave many TV and radio interviews trying to warn people of the possible danger.

Johnson was really instrumental in getting the exclusion zone put in play. but he thought it should be much larger. He described the situation to the press as, quote, being on the mountain was like standing next to a dynamite keg and the fuse is lit. Oh, that's scary. It's so funny how he would have, he got it made and they go, well, let's compromise.

You want to save people's lives this far out. Let's save them to hear. So why are we compromising on this? Let's be safe. Let's be super safe. Because they're all thinking, if it does go blast straight up and back down, the exclusion zone is fine. It's never going to get further than that.

But it explodes in one direction, laterally, sideways, it's going to be a problem. And the further out they make the exclusion zone, the more people they have to evacuate and the more the hotels they have to pay for. More of a hullabaloo. Yeah, ugh, such a fuss. And that might cost votes.

Yeah. Can't have that. Sadly, Johnston and Professor Hyde would both be proven right. Oh, no. By this point, a total of 10,000 earthquakes, had been recorded around the mountain. That's so many earthquakes.

Yeah. And they were building up to something and so was this bulge I told you about. At this point the bulge on the top was growing at a rate of 5 to 8 feet or 1.5 to 2.4 metres per day. So they're aware of this bulge? Yeah, that's clearly the way it's going to blast. Is that right?

Yeah. And you're not even a volcanologist and you get it. But a lot of other people are like, nah, mate, don't worry about it. Who are these people though? And also David Johnson has been brought in as probably the biggest expert they've got. And they're not listening to him. They're like, nah, we've done a small exclusion zone.

We've called it a red zone. I'm taking it seriously. This feels like something we do all the time. Yeah. And then regret later. Again, people are really dumb. Despite the order to stay away, many people were inside the exclusion zone on May 18th, 1980.

A fateful, fateful day. Some of the people inside included Harry Truman, the World War I veteran that refused to leave that I mentioned earlier. He was at home in his cabin. He's got his boat ready. He's ready to go. Another guy there was Reid Blackburn, who was a photographer who was very close to the summit. At 27 years old, he'd been married less than a year after many his wife, Faye, who also worked at the newspaper that had hired him.

A real outdoor enthusiast, he was assigned by the local newspaper, the Colombian, and also national geographic, to take photos of the changing mountain. He camped there 24-7 to make sure he was ready to snap. the best shot when it inevitably began to erupt. He camped inside the red zone to capture it when it blasted. Yeah. Did he have magma proof photos? No. Magma proof film?

Film and camera and head and body. Yeah, he's a magma man. What's your getaway plan there? What do you mean? Get in the station wagon and gun it. So basically, if all things go right, He gets to take photos of the thing that's about to kill him. If it doesn't happen, then the exclusions.

I didn't matter. It doesn't seem to make sense to me. Why doesn't he go, he should be hiring a helicopter and flying, you know. Now that makes more sense. Yeah, 24-7. He should be in a helicopter, 24-7. Get a better lens that you can take photos from far away. I'd spend money on a long lens.

And live. They're able to get naked photos of the royals from like 12 miles. away with those lenses when they're on like holidays in Greece and stuff. Are they? Yes. There's naked photos of the Royals. Queen Lizzie.

No, I think someone got in real trouble with Kate Middleton a few years ago. She was on a holiday in Greece and someone's camped out on a dirt road 12 miles away or something with one of those crazy lenses. Yeah. Imagine that far away, every millimeter you move it? Yeah.

It would move like a kilometer across. That would be so hard to get it right. There's a real skill. It's a real skill in being a perf. That's the moon. Oh no, I didn't want to see her bum. Ah, yes. Oh, that's the moon.

Too far, too far. Oh, overcorrected, that's the ground underneath my feet. Somehow. I can just get a happy medium there. So he was stationed at Coldwater One. That is a funny name. Laughing at Matt's photography It makes sense

It's looking behind me now Now I'm looking at the Hubble Space Center Oh Alien I don't want to take a photo of that Oh it's inside my brain I'm seeing Kate Middleton I just want a nude of a woman

Getting everything butt It's like mate just the butt I'm kidding So much good stuff But it's not what I need. Just go on Google, mate. So many news. So this bloke, our photographer.

Yes. He's camped at a place called Coldwater One, which is about eight miles from the summit. He was assigned to stay on covering the mountain until May 17, but opted to stay a few days longer. So remember, I'm talking about this is May 18, the Fateful Day. He was actually supposed to go home the day before. But he extended his stay and that was a fateful choice.

Dave, as you know from this trip, I don't understand miles. So how far away would he be from the top in kilometres, please? Not 12K or so? Yeah, got it. Thank you. Ish? Not that far. He's pretty close.

Keith Ronholm was a geophysics student who bluffed his way past roadblocks and parked at a place called Bear Meadow, 11 miles from the summit. So he's a bit further away. These are all people that I'm going to check in with later After the volcano goes off The bears don't get them, the lava will They're the two Honestly, I mean, I guess if you're like,

I don't care, I'm just going to camp near a volcano I'm happy to stay in the bear house or whatever Bear Village or what was it called the Bear? Bear Village Who's in Bear Village? Bear Village Oh, hopefully they're friendly I mean

They want a lovely bear and bee Whoa Did that like he says? The B and B in this case Stamps the B and B. Bear B and B. B. So it's like that

That would be the equivalent of us being beds And staying in a B and B. The bears, yeah, they stare in a bear and bear. Okay, a bear B and B and B like Air B and B. Okay, a bear B and B. Because we're like air. Yeah, exactly.

But this is. a beer, be for bears. I reckon in this bear meadow, the bears were probably smart enough to leave. They hated the warnings. Yeah, well, the bears start to leave, get the hell out. Yeah.

That's what I always say. You know, ants always know when it's going to rain or whatever. Yeah. Rats always leave a ship at some point. You know, it's like one of these things. It's like totals and tortoise. Taters and totas? Yeah. But you laughed at me at air, bear and bee.

I was just trying something. Yeah. You can't even say tortoise. What is that word you're saying? Oh my God, Dave Diko. All right, so we've got, that's Keith Ronholm. Portis. He's pretty close.

He's a student, he's jumped past the roadblocks. He's bluffed his way through. He should not be there, but he's there. He bluffed. It doesn't feel like this is going to end up here. Because he's a geophysics student. I think that he was telling them that, oh, I've got to monitor him to some stuff. I'm allowed to be here.

He's like, I've got to check out the CBOs on the BFHs. And the sheriff is like, I'm so bored. Just go. Just go. I don't care. I hope you don't. Yeah. I hope you're not supposed to be here.

So the people who have that need to get close to the action, knowing they're putting their lives on the line, but they mustn't really think they're putting their lives on the line. No, everyone in this situation thinks they're going to be able to get in a car and get away. Right. Oh, this sucks. And we're all going to find out if that's true. Oh, okay.

Robert Landsberg was also, he's another photographer, a bit older. He's 48-year-old photographer Robert Landsberg, just a few miles from the summit on my auntins. He's very, very close. He had visited the Exclusion zone several times in the weeks leading up to that date. He'd come in, text and photos, go home, did this many times. On Saturday evening, May 17, the night before, that faithful day, Robert camped near the volcano and wrote in his journal, quote, feel right on the verge of something, end quote. He was masturbating at the time.

He was edging towards success. I'm so close right now. He took a little break to journal. He said, oh, he's saying, him. Oh, no, no, no. Let's just chat. Let's just a journal. It's a journal. It's just journal.

On the verge of something here. Put a lid on that pen, please. Wow. So, okay. So he's camped over on the wrong night. Yeah. He's going home until then. Yeah, because he wasn't there all the time.

He just happens to be there on this night. The following morning, Robert woke early and drove a bit farther up the road, stopping less than four miles west of the volcano summit. So he's very close. Once there, he put his camera on a tripod and not knowing what he was about to capture. Wow. He also, his journal survived. That's a good sign that he would have.

If lava's going to take a humor, it's going to take a piece of paper. Hmm. Or is paper waterproofproof. Yeah, paper's lava proof. The paper aren't. Right. We conduct larva. Is that true?

That's true. We're lava conductors. Huh. Everyone then we could conduct it to go away. Yeah. Go away, larva. Hey. Hey, you get out of here.

Get out of here, lava. You chase it off with a broom. Get out of here. You'll sweep it away. So that's Robert Landsberg. And of course, David Johnston, our friend, was stationed at the observation post Coldwater 2, 6 miles from the mountains summit. He knew that in order to understand volcanoes and to protect the public,

sometimes scientists, had to put themselves at risk. But on May 18, he wasn't even supposed to be there. Harry Glicken, who was another volcanologist that looked upon David as his mentor and advisor, had been working for six days straight and David agreed to cover Glican on May 18th. Finger Glican good. That was worth interrupting you. Thank you.

So he'd worked six days. He didn't have a day off. And David agreed to cover Glican on May 18th so that Glican could attend an academic interview that he was invited to him. Oh, okay. So he wasn't even taking a day off. No.

But a day away from the mountain. Right. That means Glican is off. He's safe. He's left. Just 13 hours before the eruption, Glicken, as they're swapping over, took a photo of David, sitting on a camping chair with his feet up on a log and smiling at the camera. And this would become an iconic photo.

Oh, no, because it was the last one ever taken. Just 13 hours before the eruption. Yeah, 13 hours before the last photo of the taken. And Glickin said, thank you to his mentor, David. Oh, God, this is a final goodbye. Oh, David was his mentor. No. Dave, why are you telling us a sad story?

Well, it's finger glickin good. I think we can all agree. It is finger glickin good. And I don't regret that joke. At all. On May 16 and 17, the smaller options had stopped. This would turn out to be the calm before the storm. But of course, people don't know this.

Looking back, there's been a lot of signs. David Johnson has been talking about these signs, but no one knows this precise date it's going to go off. This has been a couple of month long process by this point. Right. So, yeah. And no one would ever be really expecting it. No, not right.

I reckon it's going to happen tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. You can't save it. Especially when it quiets down, you'd be like, Maybe it's a false alarm. Yeah, but as you said, like, it's better safe than sorry, but imagine if this went on for months and months and it never went off.

You'd feel a bit like, oh, sorry, we kicked you out of your houses. Yeah. But on the morning of May 18 at 832am, which is a Sunday morning in earthquake, measuring a large 5.1 on the Richter scale, triggered a gigantic landslide on the mountain's north face. It was the largest landslide in history, and it removed a mile-wide chunk of the north face. Oh, my God.

So a mile across of the mountain just went, And just started sliding down the hill. This slope fell away in an avalanche and caused what David Johnston had warned of all along. A massive lateral blast that exploded out sideways and carried a high-velocity cloud of superheated ash and stone outward some 15 miles or 25 kilometres from the volcano summit. Which is much larger than the exclusion zone. Yeah. The blast reached temperatures of 660 degrees Fahrenheit or 3,000. 350 degrees Celsius.

Whoa. And travels, and traveled at speeds of up to 300 miles or 500 kilometers per hour. Holy shit. So basically in the blink of an eye, it just went bang. So people who are like, it's fine. I'll just outrun it. Impossible. Never going to happen.

Of course. That's crazy. How fast was it moving again? Sorry? Up to 500 kilometers per hour. What? Did Harry get to his boat? How fast do planes go?

If you're in a plane, you can outrun it, like a jet. Hmm. Like a... Good to know. You could outrun it. You'd have to be on the plane. Running. At the back of the plane, running from the back of the aisle to the front.

While the plane is also moving past the... So really, the plane has done a lot of... But still... It's good to get in some cardio. Technically, I have outrun a volcano. Was on a plane. Wow. The eruption had the energy of the equivalent of 1,500 of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

Oh my God. The equivalent of 1,500 atomic bombs. Yeah, that's how much energy was released in that instant. Whoa. And just like it was instant, right? Like, it's just... Yeah. Fuck.

Wait, I don't understand. But that's not going to be the same. It's not going to do as much damage because it's not radiation and stuff. Oh yeah, so yeah, there's no radiation involved here, luckily. But it was simply put amazing. Rocks and superheated gas flew across the air and down the mountain destroying anything unlucky enough to get in their path. 1,300 feet of mountain disappeared almost instant. In seconds, it was 1,300 feet shorter than it was a few seconds earlier.

Whoa! It was crazy. Within minutes, piles of ash spread 15 miles high. Shit. 15 miles high. Which quoting from the Smithsonian doco, which I will link to below, which was fantastic, it was called, and you can watch it for free on Facebook, it was on the Smithsonian channel called Make It Out Alive, Mounce and Hellens. Wow, cool.

Wow. Sounds interesting. I just looked it up. Dante's Peak is based on this explosion. this eruption. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Cool. Luckily I haven't mentioned any grandma character, so I won't be spoiling the movie. You have. Quoting from that doco, which is that 15 miles high

is that that's more than twice as high as commercial planes fly. That's how high the ash went into the air. It choked the air and caused the sky to go dark. If you were around the mountain

this time, breathing became very, very difficult. So like all of a sudden it's dark. It just went really, really dark. And suddenly the ash is hot

If you're unlucky enough to be close enough For it to fall on you It will burn you And you can't breathe I was feeling nervous For all the people you've mentioned now I'm feeling Pretty scared

Okay That ash There was so much ash It would go on to circle the globe twice What? That's how fun Like a tour Yeah

Bloody out People paid tickets to see it See ash Yeah it was the Irish band It was the eight of a different time Different time. People used to come out to see Ash. Poor old Ash.

They're a good band. I never heard of them. Whatever happened to Ash? I've never heard of them. All right. So you want to know what happened to the people inside. I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. Okay.

All right. Okay. Predictions. I was going to predict, but that seems like a fucked thing to do. Yeah, it is. But the old man's dead for sure. He's who I'm going to start with. Sorry to say, Harry Truman.

Sorry, let me just take a sip of water because I'm... Oh, my God. Got a lot of information to deliver to you. The suspense is killing me. So he's lived there for 50 years his World War and veteran. He's the one is that refused to leave. He reckons he's going to get in his boat.

Let's find out. The landslide headed straight for Spirit Lake where Harry Truman lived. Lived. Thank God. Oh my God. Thank you. He was still inside his cabin when it erupted.

He simply didn't stand a chance. Both he and the lodge disappeared under hundreds of feet of ash, just buried. It's been estimated he had only 22 seconds between the start of the eruption and the landslide hitting him. There's a great doco make it out of love by the Smithsonian, which again I'll link to you below.

In it, they interview one of his neighbours who did leave called Mark Smith. And looking back, he says this is quite a poignant quote. He says, quote, a lot of people think, gee, that was quick, talking about the 22 seconds. And he says, well, have you stopped right now on count a thousand and one, a thousand and two, 2003. By the time he gets a 22, that's a hell of a long time to see your life pass before you. Yeah. Because he would have heard the explosion

gone out to see what's going on. You got 22 seconds before it engulfs you in your house. Sadly, Harry's body was never found. Well, the only thing you could hope for then would be like a quick death. Quick and painless. Yeah, you know, it would be over very quickly. I mean, that's an awful silver lining,

but... You know where you find me in a door frame? Because we're supposedly the most... I think that's earthquakes. That's earthquakes. Yeah, well, this is triggered by one. Yeah, but the volcano part. Oh, yeah.

Well, let me finish. My doorway is also molten-proof. Oh, okay. Sorry, you didn't mention that. I didn't let you finish. That was on me. Sorry about that. Can I come over in the instance of a volcano?

You have 22 seconds to get to Matt out. Easy. I've got room for three people under there. Wonderful. Thank you. So, yeah, you can come around and bring a friend. Okay, great. Sorry, Dave.

You're dead. Oh, no, don't. No, that's probably holidaying on some sort of a prizey one online. It's probably eating a pie on the top of a dormant volcano mountain. Am I a prize big? Yeah. In all the right ways. Thank you.

I mean, you've won a prize for liking pie. And a prize for eating a nachos. Yeah, but he entered the competition. I'm not, hang on, I'm not having a go. I'm just saying it's amazing. I feel attacked. Oh no, no, I was saying like you've got to be in it to win it. Yeah, no, thank you.

I was attacked by Matt, not you. You were defending me. I appreciate that. I was not attacking. I was saying it's amazing. It's crazy. It is. It's silly.

It is silly looking back. Sadly, Harry has died. Keith Ronholm, he's the geophysics student that's bluffed his way in. At the time of the eruption, was quietly reading in his truck. He heard the huge eruption in Lasline and still in his underwear, grabbed his camera and just started shooting, taking incredible pictures of the massive blast cloud,

before realizing, hey, that's actually coming this way and very, very fast. He started to get dressed while still taking photos. Getting dressed, still taking photos, okay. But we know this story, that's a good sign. He had to decide in the blink of an eye, do I stay in shelter in the truck or leave and try to outrun the cloud. At the last possible moment, he decided to make a run for it. He jumped in his car and decided to just drive.

He began to think, oh no, I've waited too long. Don't get dressed. Don't get dressed. So he's putting on, he puts on pants, takes some more photos, puts on the shirt. No, get in the car. He's already in the car, just drive. He's driving and he's thinking, I really regret that photo. Kind of like when we missed the plan the other day.

Yeah. Should not have taken that piss. Should not have bought a magnet. I should not have pissed on that magnet. Yeah, it was weird that you did that. A similar life and death scenario. Whilst driving down a dirt road, he looked back over his shoulder one last time and he took a photo. Stop it!

Stop taking photos, you dickhead. But people have seen these photos apparently. I'm feeling good about this one. It's an incredible photo. It shows a giant wave of ash gaining on him and smashing everything in his path. That's a powerful photo. It's weird, really is. The cloud overtook his vehicle and suddenly everything went completely dark.

So the ash caught up with him. Even with the headlights on, he couldn't see the road in front of him. So to avoid an accident, he pulled over. He just had to wait it out. The whole time wondering, am I going to be buried alive by Ash? Or have I made it far enough away that it's just going to be like a foot of ash? And that when it calms down, I'll be able to drive again. But he's thinking if it's like 10 feet of ash, I'm going to die in this car.

Wow. So what is Ash? I think if Ash is being a thing, you're just like, you know, just shuff off. Shuff off. Shuf. No, well, because when it comes out, it's like very, very hot. Yeah. And there's also gas in the air, so it's very difficult to breathe in.

And you can't see anything. So it's a horrible situation to be in. As he stayed in his truck, he saw a glow coming up behind him. Oh my God. He started to panic. He's thinking, holy shit, that's lava. I'm about to get melted. But as it got closer and closer, he realized it was the headlights of another car.

Two people were on each side of the front of the vehicle and were giving directions to the third person as they drove. Oh, smart. Because in the car, you can't see anything. But if you're out, you can see a little bit, you can see about maybe a foot or two feet in front of you. Right. So they're crawling along and they're just feeling their way.

So he can follow them. And they're yelling out, turn left, turn right, that kind of thing, crawling out. Getting their slipstream. They happened upon Keith in his car and he joined the others and they very, very slowly headed back towards town. Oh, he got in their car. That makes it ever more sense. Wouldn't it be hard to, it's hard to breathe?

It's very hard to breathe. Fuck. So yeah, you do not want to be an asthmatic in this situation. This chance encounter turned out to save Keith's life. Wow. If he'd stayed put, he would have died in that truck. Whoa. Only later did you realize that people much further away lost their lives that day.

And if he'd stayed put, he would have been another victim. Holy shit. Just those people were driving along and they gave him a lift. So Keith survived. So many, like, spur of the moment, life or death, decisions to make, staying or going, that sort of stuff. So he just kept making the right decision, although stopping eventually was wrong, but it ended up.

Yeah, that's right, because I mean, if he kept driving in theory, probably would have crashed and then he'd be stuck. So he's alive. Read Blackburn, the photographer working for the newspaper in National Geographic, started taking photos when it started erupting, and even took the time to write down times and shot numbers in his log. So I guess back in the day, what you do, take a photo, wind it on, and then you'd write down a description of the photo.

easier to catalogue later. This is what he's doing while he's in the danger zone. Yeah. A volcano was erupting and he's taking time to do that. He's a real professional but this cost invaluable time and unlike Keith Ronholm, he didn't actually have time to start driving at all. So by the time he got to his car, he just wound the windows up and hoped for the best. Sadly, the ash was just too much and he was just way too close.

The following day his car was discovered, buried up to the windows in ash, with Reed's body still in the front seat. He died of asphyxiation. Fuck. His notebook that recorded the photos survived and gave an indication of his last moments. Sadly, his photos didn't survive. So they could tell kind of what time he died because of what he'd written, you know, 8-34 description. But if he didn't take those photos and log it, it's just, yeah, some of these people so dedicated to their gigs.

You may have got away. Again, most of them, I've never experienced a volcano. You don't know, you're miles and miles away. You don't realize how quickly it can just change in a second. Yeah. Robert Landsberg, our other photographer, was also way too close to the blast. As the cloud of action, Hot Rocks bore down upon him, Lansberg, realizing he had no means of escaped,

just kept taking photos until the last possible moment, he then wound the film back into its case, placed the film into his camera into his backpack, and then laid himself on top of the backpack in an attempt to protect its contents. Incredibly, his sacrifice worked. What? His body was found buried in the ash with his backpack underneath 17 days later And whilst the photos were slightly damaged, they did survive

And were later published in National Geographic. Amazing. Whoa. So it's his final moments. Imagine that moment realizing I'm going to die here. Just keep in taking photos. This is the best I can do. Right.

That's amazing. Yeah. Because you'd think, well, who knows what you'd think. But I imagine some people would be like, I'm going to die. Fuck everything. Yeah, or just panic. Yeah, or panicking. What do I do?

What do I do? But it's all over. But it sounds like he's so calmly. Yeah. Well, I'm gone, but I want to leave something behind. Wow. Amazing. Yeah, and I'll be posting lots and lots of photos of the eruption.

There's so many good ones. But I'll be taking the one. I'll definitely post Keith's photo of him turning around in the truck. And also some of Robert's ones, which are amazing. They are damaged. But like that sort of adds to it because you realize this man died, taking these photos. Wow. Absolutely amazing.

David Johnston, now, volcanologist was just six miles away from the summit when it erupted. The pyroclastic flow, which I remember watching documentaries on volcanoes with my dad as a kid, that's the thing you've got to be most scared of in an eruption. It's fast-moving currents of hot gas and volcanic matter, and it just travels at hundreds of miles per hour down the mountain and just smashes everything in its past, you can't breathe, and it's super hot, and it just destroys everything. So people worry about the lava, but that sort of comes a bit later usually, and there's a lot slower.

A lot of the time you can sort of outrun or out drive lava, but the pyroclastic flow, if you're in its path, you have no chance. Wow. So that's the most terrifying part. This is one of the guys who knew this was, or believed this was all going to happen. Yeah, this is the main guy. Still ended up being so close. He's there, because remember I said before, because he's monitoring it for everyone, he realized that sometimes scientists have to put themselves in danger to protect other people by reporting on what's going on. it would have only taken one minute for the parochlastic flow to reach where David was.

In that time, he was able to reach a radio and send a message to his colleagues. His final words were, Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it. Wow. It was unclear at first if he had survived, but it was soon discovered that the area he'd been in was absolutely decimated. The lateral blast that killed Johnston started at a speed of 220 miles or 350 kilometers per hour and accelerated to 670 or 1,080 kilometres per hour. Holy shit. Sadly, his body was just never recovered.

What? It's, yeah, so if everyone believed him and they made a huge exclusion zone, would he still, do you reckon he'd still would have stayed in there to monitor it? Probably just because he was monitoring it every single day. And remember, so the thing that he's predicted has killed him, but also, tragically for his colleague and his mentee, he had taken it over his friend's shift that day. Remember, he wasn't even supposed to be there?

His apprentice, Harry Glicken, was completely destroyed after the loss, as he would be. Yeah, you're blaming yourself. But I mean, obviously that's not logical. No, I could have gone on at any second. In a cruel twist of fate, Glicken was also killed by an eruption at Mount Unsen in Japan in 1991. This makes Glicken and his mentor, Johnson, the only two US volcanologists to ever be killed by volcanic eruptions. They're the only two.

They're only two. Wow. That feels like a curse. Isn't that crazy? So you'd feel guilty this whole time. I was supposed to be there. I should have been killed by the volcano. Then 11 years later, he becomes the only second ever U.S. volcanologist to get killed by one.

That's like, what's that movies, that horror movie series where the death would always come from? A final destination. Yeah. Couldn't live it. So sadly, David Johnston is one of the victims. So so far we've had one survivor that you mentioned. And so much luck. So much luck to get there.

Wow. I'm going to tell you about another person now. I haven't mentioned before. It wasn't just people in the exclusion zone that were affected. 36-year-old Jim Shimonke was working as part of a team of four members of a logging crew because it's surrounded by forest there. And actually people did kick up a firemankey. fuss later on saying one of the reasons they thought the exclusion zone wasn't larger is that it was

a big logging area and some people said did a possible reason yeah that that would have stopped the logging which would have cost you know millions of dollars potentially so they just went no don't worry about it keep the logging going that was a criticism afterwards but jim shiomanky was there with three other people the crew were logging 12 miles from the mountain and were outside the red exclusion zone when it erupted he was far enough away that when it first kicked off he and his two colleagues where their chainsaws had no idea. They just kept logging until their fourth colleague, who had refused to work on Sundays,

he was just camping, came running down towards them. Then the blast hit and the men were just knocked to the ground. The ash began to fall and it was so hot it melted Jim's gloves onto his hands. What? What? How gross is that? So like proper workman's gloves melted onto his hands. Still on the ground after being knocked over, the ash started piling on top of him and his colleagues and it was burnt.

burning their skin. Oh my God. His lungs were also burning from breathing it in. It was so hot, his first thought was, oh my God, I'm being covered in lava. Oh, shit. He felt like he was on fire. Incredibly, tough man, he was able to get up despite the pain.

Oh, my God. It was almost completely black and difficult to see, but he was able to find his three colleagues, and they two were alive, but only just. They tried to seek relief from the burns by heading down to a river that usually runs cold, but it had turned into grey muck because all the ash. Yeah.

And then later on mud flows actually took over. It was awful situation. Next they soon sought shelter in their logging truck, which had been moved by the blast but remained upright. The four squeezed into the cab, increasing the pain from their burns as they rubbed against each other. Finally, they could bear it no longer. They knew if they were to survive,

they're going to have to walk out themselves. But everywhere they looked was destroyed. Logs blocked every path. They split the party into two. Never split the party. Never do that. One split is not going to survive for you. Ever split the party.

And Jim and one man went off in one direction, the other two went in another. Despite their burns, they walked 4.5 miles before Jim and his friend's path was completely blocked by a landslide. They had nowhere to go. Burnt and exhausted, they lay down defeated. They could hear helicopters. from the natural guard overhead, but the copters couldn't see them through the ash.

So basically they lay there for hours. Oh my God, no. Jim would later say, bawling too much, that he basically wondered, how long is this going to take? Preparing for death, sort of hoping that it would,

can we speed this up? I'm in a lot of pain. A quick death. Their lungs were burnt, their skin was burnt, they had no energy, but they refused to die. And then they heard a helicopter,

this time much closer than the others. Jim looked up and he could see it. He barely had enough strength to lift his arm to signal it, but he did. The helicopter tried to land, but the ash made that a very difficult task and also blew more into Jim's face. As close to catch, more ash kicks up. Eventually, the pilot, bit of a hero, was able to land and Jim and his colleague were rescued. He spent months in the hospital and survived, whereas sadly the other three men, including the other men rescued, did not. Wow.

It does to come to their injuries. Yeah, I think two of the other men, they tried to make it through a flooded area and just sort of never able to get through it and the other man just succumbed to his injuries that burns and everything else. Jim never logged again and instead began restoring antique cars. Oh, cool.

Wow. And he's been interviewed multiple times since about... Far out. Those would be just the most horrendous injuries to recover from. Yeah. But that's... He survived. Amazing.

Crazy survival story. And there's lots of other stories about that. I've just sifted a few of them. The effects of the eruption were felt across America and the world. Complete darkness occurred in Spokane, Washington, which was 250 miles or 400 kilometers northeast of the volcano. So 400k away, the ash is so thick, it's turned to nightfall. Within minutes, a pile of ash spread 15 miles high, which I said before.

The ash would circle the globe twice, which, I did mention earlier, but that is just crazy. In Australia, we were detecting ash in the air. Crazy. Maybe not people, it's not like when we have a bushfire and you can smell it, but instrumentation from scientists, they could sense that there was ash in the air. It's like in Chernobyl. They could detect the radiation.

Oh yeah, that's right. They detected it ages away. The eruption also melted entire glaciers in the area. Whoa. Melting a glacier. Yeah. They take, you know, millennia to form. It just melts it.

They're gone in minutes because they're right next to the volcano and then hot ash just lands on it and it just and it melts. And these caused lahars or volcanic mudslides which cause further destruction. Oh, that sucks. The water melted caused a flood. It combined with all the ash and the dirt and gross mudslides started. The thermal energy released during the eruption was the equivalent of 26 megatons of TNT. And the eruption caused over 1.1.

billion dollars in damage, equivalent of 3.3 billion today. That's so much. And that's US dollars too. So it's 5 trillion Australian. Quick maths. Well done. That's a lot of scumulians. Yeah.

Which is like a, I think, a phrase for money. So I mentioned it was a logging area. 4 billion feet of board or 9.4 million square metres of timber was destroyed, which is enough to build about 300,200 bedroom homes. And the ash removal took months in some places. Wait, sorry, read that again. 300,000. Two bedroom homes worth of wood was just wiped out in seconds.

Far out. In the forest around. I heard it is 200 bedroom homes. And I was like, whoa. Dude, that's like, that's huge. That's a hotel. Yeah, but how many hotels? Before the eruption of the mountain peak was

9,67 feet or 2,950 metres, but afterwards it was 8,363 feet or 2,549 meters, meaning it lost 1,300 feet or 400 metres of height. Wow. And there are photos that compare the before and after, and it looks like a different amount. Really? That's crazy. The official death toll of the eruption is recorded as 57. Oh.

The eruption has often been declared as the most disastrous volcanic eruption in US history. people say, without the exclusion zone, it could have been a lot worse. Yeah. But if the exclusion zone was a bit bigger, it would have been a lot less. I mean, 57 feels like a relatively low number, but that's still a lot of people. Yeah, it is. And for the destruction that it caused. Yeah.

You know, it could have been worse. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan announced that the area around the mountain would become the Mountsand Helen's National Volcanic Monument. And inside the monument area, the environment is left to respond naturally to the eruption. So they didn't repair any of the, or clear away any of the ash there. They just left it. Just left it to sort of nature take its course. An observatory was set up four miles from the mountain near where David Johnston was on the morning of the eruption, and it was named the Johnston Ridge Observatory and named in his honour.

Wow. Just finally, I don't want to spook anyone here, but the volcano is still active and has had some small eruption since, leading me to ask, is it just another time bomb that will again explode in hundreds of, or thousands of years. Probably, yeah. Probably, yeah. Totally. I just hope that I'm nowhere near it when it goes off.

Far out. Because I'm fascinated by volcanoes. Like I said, would watch those dockers with my dad as a kid and, you know, watching the lava bubble afterwards and sort of form new islands and mountains. It's so fascinating. But they are terrifying. Yeah.

Just the speed and the power. It's so scary. And there's stories of other people where they were camping out and they were closer than other people that died, but because of where they were and where the land was, when the blast came down the hill, it sort of went into a channel down a valley, and they were standing on a slightly elevated bit,

so it sort of was coming towards them and at the last second veered away. Far out. But if they'd been in any other spot, they would have been killed in seconds. So there's so many stories like that. Incredible. Far out.

You know what? Like, the guy who survived and then spent the rest of his life just, not just, but like restoring antique cars, it would sort of give you quite a bit of perspective, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You've been that close. Like, he was lying there prepared to die. Yeah, he's waiting for death.

He knew he was going to die. Not knowing, like, not just thinking he thought he knew this is it. Far out. And the helicopter saving was against all odds. That's crazy. Yeah, just being able to see him, let alone being able to get to him. Quite amazing. But that's the story of the Mount St. Helens eruption in 19.

Dave, fantastic report. Great report, Dave. A fascinating story. Thank you. I do love... Brutal but fascinating. Yes, I do love a disaster story. Yeah, why is that?

I find them fascinating, absolutely, yeah. And there is, you know, always the human element. It's just like the serial killer stuff and we talk about it here. It is awful. These are real people, but, you know, I do find it fascinating. And the build up, the lead up to it. And there's always moments looking back where it could have been like, if we've done this, we would have saved these.

I don't know, there's one thing smart to think about. these and hopefully learn the lessons from the lessons and just always err on the side of caution yeah exactly um that that was a huge report that really uh yeah that was full on i don't know if i'm feeling particular particularly fragile or something but i was like towards the end there that was uh that was something yeah sorry i tried to finish with a man's heroic survival just to sort of pick it up at the end there but it is um really sad tragic that those 57 people

Yeah, but I think, yeah, you can, it's not the kind of story I would look into naturally, so I appreciate you doing that. For here, us, that do go on. That's right. That's right. Hey, Dave, on another different note, the people who help make this show possible are our patrons,

and they support us at patreon.com slash do go on pod. Yes, and we love those people. We love them with all of our hearts. Absolutely. They make this show, like you say, possible. make our lives a lot better. And one of the rewards you can get, if you sign up there at petron.com slash 2Goanpod,

on the Sydney-Schenberg deluxe memorial, VIP, RIP edition, as you get to give us a factor quote or question, there are also other great rewards like bonus episodes and other such things, shoutouts and whatnot. In the fact quote or question section, you get to do any of these, any number of things, three. Any number of facts.

quote question. Boom. And this week, we've got a couple. One is a fact from Nathan. And Nathan has given himself the title, because he has given himself a title as well in this section. He's given himself the title of Chief Beverage Analyst Officer. Interesting.

Okay. Nathan, I like it. Interesting. That is a fascinating title to have given yourself. Thank you so much, Nathan. And your fact that you've given us is, geez, it's brief. I love that. Right to the point.

You ready for this? Yes. Take it all in if you can. The medical name for your butt crack is interglutial cleft. That makes sense. I've never heard that. It makes sense. Me either.

Interglutial cleft. It does make sense. So your butt crack. That's a beautiful fact. Thank you so so so much. Thank you, Nathan. And what I was up for his job title? Chief beverage analyst officer.

Thank you. Does that mean you'll bring us beverages? Yeah. Yeah, is he analyzing the ones that we are. already have. Oh, okay. Making sure they're not poisoned? Oh, that's great.

You taste tester. Yes, that's right. He goes, no, all good. Then hands you. You're clear. Yeah, I like that. He has to wait a few days to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with it.

Yeah, he tastes our drink several days ahead. We're always having three-day old milk. He anticipates our wants. Yes. Thank you so much, Nathan. And also, I would love to thank Odie Matthews, who's given himself the title of Junior Vice President. of coming back to the patron.

He left for a little period. He's back. Bigger, bad, or better than ever. Odie. And Odie has asked a question, and I probably mention this every time, but I don't read him until I read him. So I think I nailed that last one.

That was great. Basically, I had Latin in it, and I didn't even stumble. But Odi asks, since y'all, he's American, I think, since y'all have done so many different reports, I was wondering if there were any

from the beginning of the pod that you wish you could do again with new information and skills on writing reports. That's a great question. That is a good question, Heidi. Yeah, that is, that's an interesting one. I think, I think, I think of some of the earlier reports I did. Yeah, a lot of the early ones, I think we were figuring it out. I think there's some topics I just wouldn't choose now.

Like, I wouldn't do the hottest 100 now. It's kind of quite a strange. Okay. And it's also, because it's just all instantly out. a date. Yeah. Because, you know, I did that in 2015. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, four of those countouts since then. Yeah. I mean, maybe the, if I was, I should have just had done the origin of it, which is probably what I did. I can't even remember. But yeah, I'd probably love to do every report I've ever done again. I feel like I could always do it better. Yeah, you could always improve you personally.

Dave and I've always nailed it. Yeah, I feel like I've always nailed it. No, I think I could do the Beatles better. left-handedness? I don't know if I would have done that. Yeah. I think that was a, I would quite like that as a report. Yeah, I find that. I think it's cool. It's different. Yeah, it's not just like an event or a person. Yeah, I like some of those ones that are just, yeah, almost answering a question. What's the deal with left-handed? Yeah. Or how do tattoos work? Yeah.

Yeah, I forgot we'd done that. That's, I think, yeah, that's probably one that I would like to do again. Right. Maybe we could do updates. But yeah, that's an interesting question. Yeah, great question. I should go back through some of the older episodes and... Don't put yourself through that.

No, that's a good point. I did talk to someone at a recent live show who said they've just gone back to the start and the starting again. They said they just listen to the Spice Girls episode. I said, all right, my favorite Spice Girl is scary. Is that still true? She said, it is. And I said, and Dave's... No, Jazz is Sporty Spice?

No, Dave's a Sporty Spice. And Jess's was posh. No. Baby. Damn it. So close. It's not a spice. Baby.

Did I do that report? One of you did? Or did I? Oh, it wasn't me. It could. Maybe it was me. No, it was you. Probably me.

Yes. Spice up your life. Go back and listen to that one again. Thank you so much to Odie for that question. Thanks, Odie. Thanks, Adie. Good question. Dave, you didn't.

Did you give an answer there? Um, I'm sure there's ones that I'm like, oh, I wish I'd done. I could do that again. I think Agrippina the Younger was one that I think I could have done more coherently. I heard some people say that it was a bit, a bit hard to follow at times. I wish that I could go back and be funnier on the Helen Callena episode. Oh, that is one. Yeah, that's...

Because Matt and I sort of treated that with sort of, I think too much we were treating it with kid gloves, too worried to make jokes. but later on we've discovered, obviously, you can find humor around. We're not, I think we're worried that we'd be looked like we were making fun of Helen Keller. Exactly. We're a remarkable person. But we could have had more fun, I reckon, around the topic. But I think we're a little too nervous at the time. Yeah, we missed the start and never caught up.

Yeah, and that was a good report by you, Jess, but it was sort of, it really should be our job to chime in with sillier things that don't make fun of. I know. And I was almost about to say that maybe that wasn't the best topic choice, but she's a fascinating person. Oh, absolutely. It's an incredible life. It's a great story. And, yeah, there's been all sorts of stories that might seem inappropriate to. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the delicate thing that we try and do. Do you know what, though? We could go back and do some that we've done three years ago. And it wouldn't even feel like we were redoing it because I've forgotten it at all. Yeah. I'd be hearing it for the first time.

I'd be like, really? I'd probably make the same jokes I made the first. first time because my brain has not evolved. That is true. It's a good question, Odie. As a brain scientist. Oh, no, that's not true. As a brine scientist.

Brian scientist. Another thing we like to do is thank a few of our other patrons, and Jessum comes up with a bit of a game. Yeah, a bit of a tough one with this topic. It's a disaster's volcano. Either we can name a volcano after them. Oh, yeah. Or, because you know how they named that sort of,

sort of that area after David Johnston, Johnson, Johnson, Johnson. Johnston. Johnston. Maybe we could name some sort of monument after them. Oh, okay, great. You know what I mean? No, all right, and so we can go through statues or that. Yeah, all sorts of things.

We reckon. Heaps of options. Yeah, great. So, kicking off, I'd love to think, if possible, from Bandhagen in SE, would I be Sweden? Yeah, that is. I'd love to thank Emil Littwin.

Emily Littwin. Emily Littwin. Emily Littwin. Yeah, that's right. Thank you so much for listening all the way over in Sweden, which I say all the way over. It's not that far from us right now, is it? Oh, yeah.

We're still thinking like we're in Australia. I always think like we are. Sometimes you say stuff like, yeah, over here and you go, oh no, we meant over there, Australia. She's already got win in her name. Okay. So there's a monument. ready to go.

What? Lit win. So it's a, you know, you'd think that's like some sort of a book prize, a lit win. Yes. So I think it's like a Ruknama style massive book monument for maybe for, and it's, it's remembering people who read a full book in one year, which I'm yet to do. But everyone who does, they get their name etched on the bottom. Yes, I'm on there.

If they only read one? If they surpass one? I've read a book in a year. Let's make it something that I haven't done, something for me to go and four. Two books in a year. Two books in a year. I think, no, I reckon I've even done that.

Let's say 10 books in one year. I would never have done that. Not like novels. I would have read 10 picture books. I was a kid probably. Where's Wally? Where's Wally 2? Where's Wally now?

Where's Wally? Where the fuck is that? I've read all those. Yeah. So is that anything for Emily Lickland? Yes, I reckon it is. From Bandhagen, Sweden. Bandhagen.

That's so cool. It's so cool that we've got a listener in Sweden. And I know, actually quite a few lists are in Sweden, which is wild. It's very cool. Thank you so much, Emily. And that makes me feel real cool. Thanks, Emily. I'd also love to thank from San Diego in California, United States of America,

Aaron Stossel. Arrinsstosal Aron Stocell And the Aron Stosal Observation Deck Oh wow What is he observing? Over a big

Cliff Whoa And people Bunggy jump off it Really? And you can watch from the From the observation deck You can observe from the

Arons Stozoal Observation deck To see people jumping And then bouncing back Yeah it's really fun Because that's what he did Aaron he hit some tough times But he always bounced back Always bounce back.

And that was why I was a beautiful and apt dedication to him. Thank you so much, Aaron. Thank you, Aaron. Do you want to thank some? I'd love to thank some of these beautiful Patreon supporters. Now, I would like to thank from an unknown address. Ooh, mystery man. I love the mystery here.

First name, Frank. Oh, last name, West. Oh, that's a great name. Frank West. That's a Hollywood name. I think that we should dedicate a monument on a mystery island. Oh. Yes.

So he can never find it. Yeah. No one can. No one can. Oh, but we definitely made one. We definitely made one, but you'll never find it. There's a photo of us standing next to the monument, which we'll email it. We've got his email.

That's about it. Okay. Frank West. And I believe it's a giant question mark because this is the mystery man. Yes. And what does it, what does it represent? Mystery. Intrig.

Oh, intrigue. It's just like you get a monument for being most intrigued. Oh, okay. And how about we bury treasure at the foot of the question mark? So if you are able to find this mystery island and dig it up, the treasure is yours. And you'll need to follow these questions three. No, we've just dedicated it to Frank. It's coming out of our pocket. Okay.

Because we appreciate his support so much. It's going to cost us many millions more dollars than he's donated to us. That's the price you pay. Thank you, Frank West. The Mystery Man. Who knows where you're from? Who knows? I'm predicting.

Mozambique. That's my hot tip. All right. I would like to think, now I've got the location of the next person. They are in Tempe, Arizona. I would like to thank

Andrew Jacob Greenfield. Greenfeld. So sorry, I've added in an eye there. Andrew Jacob Greenfeld. AJG. AJG. AJG. Okay.

I'm trying to think, what are some other monuments you can have? What about an obsalisk? An obelisk? Obelisk. Which you pointed out one the other day when we're in Dublin

and also said it wrong. It's an obsulisk? Is it an obsulisk? I like adding extra letters in a word I vaguely remember. And is this like a classic Egyptian obelisk? You know, they often

European people would steal those and put those one in Paris. Yeah. Standing up there. But this one, we're building it from scratch from stone from the local Arizona area.

Oh, great. Local tribute. Yeah, that's nice. And it's, It's a tribute to all of those people who've stood up for what they believe in. That's why it's an upright obsolesic. Oh, that's good. Love that.

And Andrew Jacob Greenfield's done that. He does that every day. He stands up for what he believes in. And what he believes in sometimes is questionable. But that's not the point. The point is he stands up. You're right to believe in. Yeah.

Whatever you want. Andrew Jacob Greenfeld, thank you so much. All right from Tempe, Arizona. We appreciate you. I can see from there. Tempe Bebe. That was a punch sign of a joke that I cut from the show like this year. Tempe Baby.

You should put that back in. I'll put it back in. Maybe I use it next year. I'd also like to thank a little more local to home, but very far away from where we are right now. Ballarat in Victoria. Ah, the rat. The rat's where my grandparents live. I would like to thank.

It's where Plugga was born. Sandy Ty. Oh, Sandy Ty. Hi, Sandy Ty. Sandy Ty. What an honour to be thanking you today. I didn't know you were. were from Ballarat.

Me either. And Sandy, actually the monument that's named after her, is a giant gold nugget. Oh. Because Ballarat was a gold mining. Gold mining, gold panning. Gold rushing town. Oh, built on the gold nuggets back. Yeah.

And so they named a big nugget after her, big gold one. It's real gold. It's an actual big gold nugget. Yeah, it's like the biggest one they've ever found. Or the goodbye friend. The Sandy tie. The Sandy tie. Big nugget.

It's the biggest nugget ever found. Biggest nugget ever found. It's actually as big as me. All we're going to do now is find it. What's someone on the other famous nuggets? Welcome Strangers one, right? That's the biggest one, yeah. Okay.

Well, let's quit while we're at the top. Yeah, name the biggest one. That's fine. And finally, bringing it home. Thanks, Sandy. Thank you, Sandy. I would love to thank from Durham. Durham.

Durham. Here in the greatest Britain. I'd love to thank Joshua Curry Oh that's a nice name isn't it Yeah Josh Curry Well can I say for Josh Yes We're going to shoot something in a space

But what are we going to shoot in a space Assuming he's still alive We can't shoot his ashes up there Yeah But maybe we can shoot like We'll roll Maybe we record an episode About Durham

Yep And all of the fascinating facts about it Dave could you give us a couple quick ones As an example Oh, the weather there today's 8 degrees. Yeah. Fascinating stuff like that. A three-star hotel will average 52 pounds.

Okay. It has a castle and a university botanical gardens. It's interesting stuff, apparently. Sorry about that. We put all of that onto a recording into a language that the Martians will understand. We shoot it into space. Which definitely exists. Martians on Mars.

I don't care what the propaganda machine tells you. We shoot into space. And that is a beautiful tribute. Great. Don't you think? Yeah. That is the tribute that I'd won. Yeah.

It's got its own flag and coat of arms. That's not a bad flag, actually. It's a fine flag. It's sort of like the English, Icelandic flag, kind of. St. George's Cross, but with the back filled in with like a navy blue. He's a fine flag. It's a fine flag. Thank you so much, Josh.

We really appreciate you. Thank you so much. We appreciate everyone that supports this on Patreon. And you can do that one more time at patreon.com slash do go on pod. Oh, yeah, big time. we can do that and that brings us to the end of the show Dave did you know? Can't believe it wow you've done the report done the Patreon

tick tick we're good here thanks so much for everyone for tuning in yet again if you want to find us online we put stuff up on our social media that do go on pod on Instagram Facebook and Twitter and also at gmail.com if you want to get in touch on the email

Jess will reply us to you within sort of one hour up all the way up to like maybe two three weeks yep somewhere in there Somewhere in there, so it can be real quick. To roll the dark. A few time it when she's on the computer, you might get a real quick report. Yeah, you might have nailed it.

But she only gets on the computer every two or three weeks. And she is about to get the new version of the Sims. Yeah, so I won't be a year. Good luck. Good luck. And yeah, what else do they, people need to know? Oh shit, I was meant to plug my shows. I'm doing a show.

Yes. In Hobart at the festival on the edge of the world. Fringe on the end of the world? Fringe at the end of the world. Fringe at the end of the world, and that is on the 9th and 10th of January in Hobart, which is one of my favourite cities in the world in Tasmania. And you can find out details about that at matchchewatcom.com. And also in March, I think I'm doing the Brisbane Comedy Festival again,

and it's going to be real fun time. I'm in an even bigger room than that room that I was in previous years. You weren't there, but everyone who was there would know that it was quite a sizey room. And I'm in an even bigger room than that. And they can come along to that. I think it's 10th of the 15th of March, I think. But there will be details on the website, matchiotechiacom.

Sounds great. Fantastic. Well, guys, we've had some fun here in London tonight. But it's time for us to go out and get some nibbles. Yes. We are all very hungry. We always finish with a song. Jess, you want to kick us off?

As we go on, we really. We remember all the times we had together. Later. Bye. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. I mean, if you want, it's up to you. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are

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